The influence of temperament variables and teacher expectations on instructional decisions in head start populations

Abstract

The influence of young children's temperament characteristics and their teacher's expectations on the instructional decisions of a group from low socio-economic status (SES) populations was investigated. Three questions were posed: what temperament variables cluster in this population, is there agreement between teachers across children, and which variables are predictive of a teacher's instructional decisions? Information was collected from 11 teachers in two centers about 70 children concerning instructional decisions and predictions for future academic and social performance. Each teacher responded to the Teacher Expectation Scale and rated each child on the Teacher Temperament Questionnaire. In each center each of the 35 children was rated by five or six teachers on the Teacher Temperament Questionnaire. A factor analysis of the ratings of children by their teachers on the questionnaire resulted in four clusters which accounted for 61% of the variance in the ratings. The agreement among teachers on their ratings of the same children, as measured by intraclass correlation, was 0.04 in Center 1 and 0.46 in Center 2. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed in terms of teacher characteristic variation and situational specificity. Instructional decisions in these preschool settings are made in two areas: instructional management and behavioral management. A general linear model checking for contributions to both of these independent variables reveals that a match (interaction) between some aspects of both child temperament and teacher expectation influence classroom decisions made by teachers. In both cases variables relating to social adaptability and task orientation made significant contributions to a teacher's decisions. Variables such as age, sex, achievement, and situation, however, did not significantly influence teachers' classroom behaviors. Teachers' predictions about children's future performance in kindergarten were found to be significantly correlated with some ratings on the Teacher Temperament Questionnaire and the Teacher Expectation Scale, the child's sex, age, and achievement scores.